Northwest Dive Club

Little backstory first. My girlfriend is a travel nurse on contract in Seattle. Her contract is up this week so I am flying up to get her and we are driving back home to Alabama. Since we will both be there and we are both divers, we decided to make a bucket list dive of ours and try to see some great pacific octopus!

We are both certified nitrox divers, although she has never dove with nitrox and will need a refresher. She has been certified for 5 years now, but doesnt dive often. I have been certified since Aug 12, but dive much more often. We have about the sae number of dives. The coldest I have been in is 50*, in my drysuit. She does not have a drysuit or drysuit experience, but is much more comfortable in cold water than I am. She prefers to be below the thermocline.

So far our intent is to try a couple dives at Edmonds Dive park. She has visited there and decided that she likes it. I will be flying most of our gear out , but we will need to rent exposure protection for her as well as hood and gloves for each of us. We have zero experience in your area. I have done shore dives before, but she has not. She is a very capable diver and should have no issue with shore entry or exit.

Any helpful advice would be appreciated. If anyone wants to meet up and show us the ropes would be amazing! Thanks for any advice/help.

Joey

Do you prefer day dives or night dives? Also, do you have a good light for the dive? Having a good light, even on a day dive is beneficial in the Puget Sound.

Edmonds is great but you don't often find octos there, sadly.

So first and most important. When? most sites in the sound are current effected so when you will be diving is an important factor. Also where? It's a big body of water so it will help to know where you will be coming from.

Edmonds is a fish dive mainly. Keep in mind it is a long swim out to the features where the critters are it can be a current site on big exchanges. Cove 2 in Seattle can almost guaranty a GPO or 2 no current but loads of divers and limited parking on the weekends , Redondo has 1 or 2 GPO's but they tend to be well tucked back under and some times hard to see. A good bet for octo's and wolf eels is Sund rock in hood canal. It is easy access, no real currents and lots of critters. There is also the charter option for easy access to good sites that you can't get to otherwise. Bandito charters out of Tacoma is a good one for the sound and Pacific Adventures over in hood canal is great. Both will treat you well and put you on to excellent dive sites.

So give us some more info and you will get lots of feedback and dive buddies as well. You will find our dive community very friendly and eager to show you around.

Well we aren't restricted to any particular times. So whenever tides/currents allow can work. I don't mind night diving, but she will not night dive. I am bringing my canister light and backups. If Edmonds isn't the best place to go, then we are open to other sites. Would prefer not to charter since we are on a budget. We will have to rent some gear, but the 3k Mile drive home I'd going to be rather spendy. Is the sund rock place shore accessible?

If octopuses are what you are particularly interested in, I'd see about diving Redondo. We haven't been seeing GPOs much at Cove 2, and they are never found at Alki, because the five foot long lings more or less prevent it

Sund is your best bet and it is shore accessible. There is a small park entry fee, I think $16/ea.

The GPO is what im really interested in seeing. She just wants to dive and what there is to see. So Redondo and sund rock are where we should be looking? Will we need a dive flag for these areas or are the designated dive only areas?

Pm sent

No dive flag for either site. I would recommend sund rock. There are almost a guarantee to see a GPO and they won't be tucked too far back like at redondo. I would also post the day you plan on going and I am pretty sure a NWDC member will guide you to a GPO or two. There is nothing more frustrating than doing a bucket list dive and coming up empty.

Check that, I read you want to dive 4/7. I may be up for a day at sund rock. I will let you know by Tuesday if I can go.

Sund would definitely be my choice especially for GPO's. You might even get lucky and find one out and about and it has a lot more life and structure than most sites on this side. Redondo is good for little red octos and other stuff also and close to everything. You can almost guaranty to find guides for Redondo several members live real close by and love to take visitors out. It isn't a real exciting site for day dives. Much better at night but it has ample parking and easy access as well as dive shops nearby.

Sounds like Sund Rock is the way to go. Im getting pretty excited about it. Now just have to figure out how to get our gear there in an economical fashion...

whats the chance of me finding 2 worthington 85s with left and right valves that i could borrow or rent? I called Hood sports and dive and they only have right valve 80s....

I have 2 hp 80's with right and left hand OMS valves but no crossbar. They are filled with nitrox

No need for a manifold. Ill be sidemount. I cant even find my backmount gear right now and my last 40 dives have been sidemount. I dont care to create more variables, Ill just stick with what im used to. What do you need from me for me to use them? Are you interested in diving with us as well and showing us around? Apparently Sund Rock is about 2 hours from where we will be staying so I think the plan is to arrive there around 10 and do 2 maybe 3 dives.

Hadn't planned to do any dives this weekend but I guess it's possible. Sund rock is about 70 miles for me and I usually do not dive weekends because of the crowds. Let me check with my regular dive buddy and see if he is interested. I bought these tanks planning to try out sidemount and have never had them in the water yet. Maybe I could pick your brain a bit about my setup. Where are you staying and are you planning to go back there after the dives?

Sure I having been diving sidemount exclusively for about 40 dives. Im no pro, but i can get you started. Im not sure exactly where im staying. somewhere in seattle. My gf has been there for 3 months and has been staying with family. All i know is im getting picked up at the airport a 2pm saturday. Ill find out where though. The plan is to do some dives, then head back to seattle for some sushi and seattle culture time.

OK, My dive buddy sez Hell Yes so looks like we are on for Sunday. I took the 80's over today and topped them off and they are already rigged for side mount so we should have you rtg.

Is there any flex in your schedule? It would be far better doing Monday instead. Sund is very popular on the weekends and a lot of instructors bring classes out there. Makes for pretty poor viz and tends to make the critters run and hide. not to mention crowded parking. Monday we would likely have it all to ourselves.

offroadr1 wrote:Sure I having been diving sidemount exclusively for about 40 dives. Im no pro, but i can get you started. Im not sure exactly where im staying. somewhere in seattle. My gf has been there for 3 months and has been staying with family. All i know is im getting picked up at the airport a 2pm saturday. Ill find out where though. The plan is to do some dives, then head back to seattle for some sushi and seattle culture time.

Make sure you hit maneki's for sushi

Just an FYI. Dove Sund today. Viz was crap down to 20fsw but then opened up to about 30' below that.

Thanks Georgia, sounds like spring. That won't be bad for the octos but it kills all the great stuff on top of the walls. How is the octo population? Since that is their goal it would be nice to know they won't be disappointed. Any still on eggs?

Ill check and see if monday will work. I imagine it will be fine since we were going to just be sightseeing that day. Shouldn't be any trouble to rearrange. Ill let you know asap. We usually dive quarries so 20-30ft of viz is excellent. lol.

Monday works great! We will plan for the same time.